Former leader of the Sycuan band dies at 76

Sandoval was also a pioneer of the Indian gaming movement

When Anna Prieto Sandoval became leader of the Sycuan Band of
Mission Indians in 1972, its reservation near El Cajon in Southern
California was a tumbledown settlement of wooden shacks with
outhouses, a 100-year-old Catholic church and a cinder-block
meeting hall. About 80 members lived on the tribal land, and none
had steady jobs.

When she stepped down two decades later, the Sycuan had risen
from abject poverty to become a national model of tribal
self-sufficiency, a transformation that Sandoval was largely
responsible for -- and which she came to regret.

Sandoval, 76, a pioneer of the Indian gaming movement, died of
complications of diabetes Oct. 28 at her home on the reservation, a
tribal spokesman said. In 1983, shortly after California began to
allow Indian tribes to enter the gaming business, she brought in a
bingo hall, which succeeded beyond expectations. Within a decade it
was replaced by a glittering 68,000-square-foot casino complex that
housed a 1,500-seat bingo parlor, a 35-table poker area and a
20-seat off-track betting theater, as well as a restaurant, bar and
gift shop. Unemployment disappeared, and the Sycuan became one of
the richest tribes in the nation.

"Her dedication was tremendous. It was all about her people,
about native people," said Daniel J. Tucker, the current chairman
of the Sycuan band.

Tucker said Sandoval's vision and drive led to dramatic
improvements. New houses for every family replaced the dilapidated
structures. She built a new church, a medical clinic and a fire
station. As the gambling operation grew, the Sycuan became one of
the largest employers in east San Diego County, with 600 workers
and almost 1 million visitors annually.

The reservation became, in her words, "a little Las Vegas," but
she fretted that not all the changes were good.

She said that in the pre-casino days, if your roof leaked, you
called your neighbor for help, and when there was a potluck,
everybody made a dish. Once the money started flowing, however, old
customs started to fade. The tribal office supplied the roofers,
and food for the potlucks came from caterers.

"Now the kids don't have no hardships," Sandoval said in a 1994
interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, noting that even
18-year-olds were given their own houses. "I guess it's good in a
way, but when you lose your traditions, you don't know who you are,
what you are. All they know is what's mine."

Sandoval was born on the reservation on May 14, 1934. Few people
in her tribe had more than a sixth-grade education, but she
finished high school and later, after raising five children,
attended Grossmont College in El Cajon and taught the Sycuan
language, called Kumeyaay, at San Diego State. Twice married, she
struggled to feed her family. She told the Los Angeles Times in
1991 that one of her worst days was when she walked 10 miles from
the reservation to El Cajon to look for milk for her children. "I
said, 'God, what can you do to help us?'" she said.